Specializing in educational and psychological assessments, Jamal Abedi’s research focuses on testing for English language learners and issues concerning the technical characteristics and interpretations of these assessments. Abedi is the author of many publications in the assessment of and accommodations for English-language learners. He is on the advisory committees for several major assessment organizations and advises a number of states on testing for English learners and children with disabilities.

After teaching middle school math for ten years, I decided to pursue a PhD to get a fresh perspective on the issues I observed every day in my classroom and thought that maybe I could help develop remedies that would help other teachers, as well.

Steven Athanases is a Professor in the School of Education at UC Davis. He researches issues of cultural and linguistic diversity and educational equity in teaching, adolescent learning, and teacher education, with a focus on literacy and English language arts. As a high school English teacher in the Chicago area, he received several awards for outstanding teaching of English, with a focus on writing, and drew on his disciplinary roots in Performance Studies and Communications to stage annual performance showcases of original student compositions.

Heidi Ballard is the Founder and Faculty Director of the Center for Community and Citizen Science. You can find more information about her past and current projects, and sign up for occasional updates at the Center’s website.

Joanne Bookmyer joined REEd in 2001. She was selected as the Director of Collaborative Projects in 2002, a role which engaged her in various local, state, and national school reform and improvement initiatives, including external evaluator for the federal Sacramento City Unified School District Smaller Learning Community Grant, as Project Manager for a Network for a Healthy California SNAP-Ed initiative, and as the Technical Assistance Team Lead for Sierra Health Foundation’s REACH (Connecting Communities and Youth for a Healthy Future) initiative.

Deanne Castaneda is a project coordinator and intervention coach for the Reading RULES project at the UC Davis Reading and Academic Development Center. She has 28 years of experience in the field of education and has served as a classroom teacher, Language Arts Resource Teacher, English Learner Resource Teacher, and Student Support Teacher for the North Sacramento and Twin Rivers unified school districts. She received her bachelor’s degree in Human Development from the University of California, Davis and her teaching credential from California State University, Sacramento.

Barbara Celli joined the UC Davis School of Education in October 2016. As Executive Director of Development and External Relations, she manages the development and marketing/communications efforts for the School of Education. Most recently, Barbara was the Senior Director of Development and Partnerships at the UC Davis World Food Center. There she connected the interests of individuals, companies and foundations to philanthropic opportunities that advance healthy and sustainable food solutions.

Marcela Cuellar joined the School of Education in July 2014 as an assistant professor in higher education & leadership. She received her doctorate in Higher Education and Organizational Change at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Her research focuses on Latino student access and success in higher education, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and the development of emerging HSIs.

Uyen Do is the Program Manager at the University of California, Davis School of Education. Uyen has earned a bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Psychology, master’s degree in Education, as well as a Multiple-Subject Teaching Credential from the University of California, Davis, and pursuing her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy. She spent five years in the classroom and over 15 years working with administrators, teachers, students, in a variety of educational settings including Expanded Learning Programs.

I research the relationship between students’ everyday uses of language (English and Spanish) and their engagement in school-based uses of language and literacy. Some schools identify bilingual adolescents as “limited” in their English proficiency even though they use sophisticated literacy repertoires outside of school; other learners are deemed ”fluent” in English but still struggle with the language and literacy demands of their academic coursework.

Research Interests

Second language reading and literacy development; best practices for preparing preservice and inservice teachers to work with English learners; preservice teachers and the role of reflection in their growth as teachers; preservice teachers and pedagogy that furthers their thinking about issues of diversity; high school reform/restructuring.

Diane Godard, Program Manager, joined the REEd Center in 2017 after serving as Program Manager for grant development and project management with the UC Davis Center for Regional Change. Previously, she managed empirical research as a senior research associate with the Public Research Institute at San Francisco State University.

Faculty ProfileDecember 15, 2009EMPHASIS AREA: SOEP. Education Policy and Governance; Educational Leadership; Graduate education issues; Hispanic culture; History of Latinos in the U.S.; History of higher education; History of the University of California; Minority leadership issues

Eva Guralnick joined the UC Davis School of Education in June 2015 as the Director of Marketing and Communications. As the chief marketing officer for the School she manages all branding and outreach efforts.

Sarah Harlan joined the UC Davis School of Education in August 2015 as Associate Director of Annual and Special Funds. With a career focused on higher education, she most recently served as Assistant Director of Alumni and Volunteer Services at the University of Southern Indiana. In that role, she managed operations of the office and developed opportunities for alumni, parents, students, and volunteers to remain connected and involved with the University.

Cassandra Hart is assistant professor of education policy. She evaluates the effects of school, state and national education programs, policies, and practices on overall student achievement, and on the equality of student outcomes. Hart’s recent work has focused on school choice programs, school accountability policies, early childhood education policies, and effects on students of exposure to demographically similar teachers. She is also interested in the effects of virtual schooling on student outcomes, both in K-12 and post-secondary settings.

Akemi Joe earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UC Davis in 2014. She brings with her an extensive knowledge of the campus from her previous work at the School of Education Student Services, Office of the Chancellor and Provost, and Design and Construction Management. She manages the front office and communicates with interested families. She handles all of the initial inquiries and assists with community outreach to advertise the center’s clinical services.

Michal Kurlaender investigates students’ educational pathways, in particular K-12 and postsecondary alignment, and access to and success in postsecondary schooling. She has expertise on alternative pathways to college and college readiness at both community colleges and four-year colleges and universities. In addition to working with national data, Kurlaender works closely with administrative data from all three of California’s public higher education sectors–the University of California, the California State University and the California Community College systems.

Katherine Lacy earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Human Development from UC Davis in 2016. She helps coordinate all of our undergraduate research assistants and reading tutors, administers assessments, and assists with writing for formal reports. Previously, she served as the lead research assistant for the RAD Center supervising other undergraduate research assistants involved with multiple projects.

Anna Lawrence comes to Wheelhouse with over 18 years of experience with nonprofits and government agencies. Prior to coming to UC Davis, Anna was an Assistant Program Director for AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. There, she did outreach and developed service-learning projects in four states and supported leadership development programming for 18-24 year olds. She has worked in event production, foster care, youth mentoring, education, grantmaking, and was an AmeriCorps volunteer, as well. Anna obtained her M.A.

Robin Martin joined the UC Davis School of Education in 2016 as the Director of Educational Research and Evaluation. Having served in both K-12 policy organizations and public school districts, Robin brings over 13 years of practiced experience in education policy, research, assessment, and program implementation and evaluation.

Faculty ProfileOctober 2, 2014EMPHASIS AREA: SOEP. developmental education in colleges, the effects of grade retention, the returns to for-profit colleges, the impacts of school facility investments, and community college tuition subsidies

Francisco (Paco) Martorell joined the School as an assistant professor in July 2014. Martorell completed his PhD in economics at UC Berkeley. Prior to joining the School, he was an Economist at the RAND Corporation and was a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School since 2006. He has broad research interests in both higher education and K-12 policy. Current projects cover areas including developmental education in colleges, the effects of grade retention, the returns to for-profit colleges, the impacts of school facility investments, and community college tuition subsidies.

I direct the Center for Community and Citizen Science at the UC Davis School of Education. We are building a home to programs and partnerships that revolutionize how – and with whom – science gets done. Learn more and sign up for our mailing list here.

There are seven million exceptional children with special needs in our American school system, such as children with autism spectrum development. They have the right to appropriate and comparable educational opportunities. Truly meeting the needs of these children requires a commitment to integrating advances in educational science, neuroscience, and social policy.

Renee Newton joined REEd in 2001, where she directed a statewide health access program administered through the Healthy Start Field Office. She was named director of the Center for Community School Partnerships (CCSP) in 2005 where she led a multidisciplinary team in support of school and community partnerships.

Deb Niemeier is a professor with a joint appointment at the School of Education and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In September 2015, after a positive vote by Senate faculty in the spring, then Chancellor Linda Katehi approved Niemeier¹s joint appointment in the School of Education.

Susan O’Hara joined the School of Education as REEd’s Executive Director in 2013 with a wealth of experience and background in public education, and working closely with teachers, researchers and community leaders. An educator for 20 years, Susan began teaching mathematics and science to middle and high school students in Ireland. In 2000, Susan was appointed assistant professor in teacher education at Sacramento State University. Most recently, she was associate professor and founding executive director of the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching (CSET) at Stanford University.

Susan’s research has focused on teacher professional learning and the teaching of English learners. She has been engaged in a five-year project to develop, implement, and test a professional learning model to build mentor and teacher capacity across disciplines. Susan holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics and Science Education from UC Davis, an M.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Southern California, and a B.A. in Mathematics and Physics from the University College Dublin.

Current Grants

U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (2017-2022). Investigating the Efficacy of the Academic Language and Literacy Professional Developmental Model.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition (2016- 2021). Building District Capacity to Support Mentors and Teachers in the Academic Language and Literacy Development of Young English Learners. ($2.5 M)

O’Hara, S. & Pritchard, R. (2015). Using new technologies to engage and support English learners in mathematics classrooms. In D. Polly (Ed.), Cases on Technology and Common Core Mathematics Standards. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Alexis Patterson, Ph.D., joined the School of Education in July 2015 as an Assistant Professor in science education. She is currently a CAMPOS Faculty Scholar and is excited to work with her cohort to develop a research center that focuses on increasing the participation of women of color in STEM related fields.

Faculty ProfileSeptember 10, 2013EMPHASIS AREA: SOEP. Latina/o and Native American identity formations in P-20 systems; Transition to college for students of color in K-12, Access; Retention and Educational equity in P-20 systems

Sherrie Reed serves as Project & Research Director for The Partnership for Research on College & Career Readiness. In this role, Sherrie is managing and directing the research efforts of a 5 million dollar grant awarded by the U.S.

Angela Reynolds joined the UC Davis School of Education in January 2015 as the Associate Director of Development. Most recently, Angela served as Director of Distinguished Giving at the American Cancer Society in Connecticut where she worked with individual donors, foundations, and large corporations. Prior to her development experience, Angela was a first officer pilot for a regional airline on the east coast. She received a BA in Communication Studies from Sacramento State University and holds several FAA pilot certifications.

Gloria M. Rodriguez’s current research explores notions of educational investment that reflect efforts to build upon community strengths in order to address community needs within and beyond educational settings. Dr. Rodriguez also engages in research that focuses on the political economic conditions and educational trajectories of Chicana/o-Latina/o communities, other communities of color, and low-income populations in the U.S.

Mackenzie Smith joined the University of California, Davis School of Education in 2017 as the Program Coordinator. In her role, she acts as the main point of contact for prospective and current clients across the state regarding statewide meetings and events and grant initiatives. Prior to joining the REEd team, she spent 4 years working in the entertainment industry, specializing in public relations and digital marketing, before transitioning to education and working for the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Elise Spang is a literacy coach and project coordinator for the Reading RULES project at the UC Davis Reading and Academic Development Center. She also serves as a regional literacy specialist and presenter for the Superkids Reading Program and Zaner-Bloser. Previously, she served as a reading specialist and an elementary school teacher in New York, Massachusetts and abroad. She has been trained in Reading RULES, Superkids, Wilson Reading, Wilson Fundations, and the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program.

Nicole Sparapani is an assistant professor in the School of Education, and she also holds a faculty appointment at the UC Davis MIND Institute. Her research interests center around the development and evaluation of effective educational practices for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Sparapani practiced as a certified speech-language pathologist on an interdisciplinary team serving preschool children with ASD for several years before pursuing her Ph.D. in Communication Science and Disorders at Florida State University and postdoctoral training at Arizona State University.

Dr. Lisa Sullivan brings a range of skills and experience to her work in Teacher Education. Lisa worked as a classroom teacher in East Los Angeles and in Northern California before obtaining her doctorate from UC Davis in Learning and Mind Sciences. She has worked extensively with both classroom teachers and higher education faculty to improve teaching and learning. Lisa has conducted over twenty program evaluations for K-12 and university based education initiatives. She has expertise in the area of special education, having worked on a national implementation grant to support general education teachers to implement best practices for students with autism. Lisa has also taught both credential and Masters students at UC Davis, Sacramento State University and Loyola Marymount University. Her dissertation research examined the role of attention in learning and school readiness for preschool children. Her main area of interest is in working with educators to translate research into practice that will improve outcomes for all students.

Education

Ph.D. in Learning and Mind Sciences, University of California, Davis, 2010

To paraphrase Dostoevsky, the quality of a society should be measured by the quality of its schools, particularly the quality of its schools educating the most disadvantaged children.

Thomas Timar’s areas of expertise include education finance, policy, and governance. In addition to his faculty responsibilities, he is also director of the UC Davis Center for Applied Policy in Education (CAP-Ed) and a member of the steering committee for Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE).

Megan Welsh joined the School in July 2014 as an assistant professor in educational assessment and measurement. Since 2008, she was an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut. Her primary areas of research include test validity analysis, the use of assessment as an educational reform lever, grading, and evaluation of educational programs.

Michael Whistler has worked within open access classrooms for over 15 years, using applied arts and literature as a tool to open up dense texts and ethical issues for students of economically and socially diverse backgrounds. His teaching practice uses improvisation and Spolin games work to teach a variety of subjects in Theatre Arts (including Shakespeare) with tools to open up critical thinking, analysis, close reading, ethics, grit, and agency for his students.

Tobin White studies the use of technology in teaching and learning mathematics. He has a particular interest in using mobile computing to support novel approaches to engaging learners with STEM content and practices. Using a design-based research approach, he develops collaborative problem-solving tools and activities in order to investigate intersections between conceptual and social dimensions of learning. A former high school mathematics teacher himself, he has also worked for more than a decade in teacher preparation.

Maisha T. Winn’s research spans a wide variety of understudied settings including her earlier work on the literate practices extant in bookstores and community organizations in the African American community to her most recent work in settings where adolescent girls are incarcerated.

With over fifteen years of professional experience, Winn has worked and consulted with foundations, cities, and non-profits including Casey Family Programs, Annie E. Casey, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, City of Newark (NJ), City of Madison (WI), St. HOPE, MLK Community Resources Collaborative, and Race to Equity. His expertise includes youth programs/education, civic and community engagement, strategic partnerships, race and equity, and community based participatory research.